Pesky rodents versus tailless furry stoats (6)

I believe the answer is:

vermin

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'pesky rodents versus tailless furry stoats' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'versus tailless furry stoats' is the wordplay.
'versus' becomes 'v'.
'tailless furry stoats' becomes 'ermin' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'v'+'ermin'='VERMIN'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for vermin that I've seen before include "Eg foxes, rodents, vile persons etc." , "Rats, mice, foxes and other harmful creatures" , "despicable people!" , "Harmful or disease-carrying creatures" , "Rats, foxes, mice etc" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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